Well-known funeral director pens memoir

By Kathryn RossThe Spectator

Sunday

Jun 3, 2018 at 2:29 PMJun 3, 2018 at 2:29 PM

ANDOVER — The name Stan Swan is well-known to area residents, from his entertaining radio show in the early years of WLSV/WJQZ radio, to the caring and comforting services he performed for loved ones as the director of the Swan Funeral Home in Andover.

He left the area in 2003, and retired from the funeral business in 2014. But his 37 years as a funeral director left him with a load of interesting and sometimes mysterious stories. He wrote those stories down and published his book, “Undertakings of an Undertaker: True Stories Of Being Laid to Rest” in 2015.

Most recently Swan gave a short talk at the Hornell Public Library about the book, and over the last three years he has appeared on radio and television shows across the country relating stories from the book. A former Rotarian and local businessman, he is available for programs. He is also busy finishing up his second book, “Tales Unleashed” coming out this Fall.

Most often in the radio and television programs, he said, “We’ll talk about the book, but most times we end up talking about the funeral business as it is changing today.”

Swan sat down recently for a face to face interview with The Spectator.

“Undertakings of an Undertaker” did not happen overnight. Swan said that he began writing the manuscript about 10 years ago, from the meticulous notes he had kept throughout his career.

The 28 short stories in the book are a mix of serious and humorous incidents and includes Swan’s experience responding to the 9/11 site in 2001, where he worked on recovering the remains and property of victims of that terrorist attack along with pieces of the planes that hit the buildings. It also includes a story about his responding to Hurricane Katrina where he worked in the Biloxi, Miss. area retrieving bodies.

The 26 other stories are about incidents which occurred when he was an undertaker in Andover and in Corning. The names have been changed to protect the privacy of the innocent, but, he admitted, “The people involved in the stories will probably recognize themselves.”

His favorite story in the book is Chapter 27, ‘A Beagle in Church.’ At the end of the story he wrote, “I believe the widow never knew what happened behind her, and the flag presentation was completed with all the dignity that could be mustered. We never did find out who the dog belonged to, but everyone in attendance had a smile on their face as they left. I’m sure many were thinking that this was not an accident, but rather planned by a 'Higher Up' authority to lessen the pain of those in attendance. If it was HIS will, it worked. After all, who couldn’t love a Beagle in church.”

In the book he also recalls some unforgettable moments such as a family’s request to remove a loved one’s gold tooth before burial, and the day the grave digger’s truck ended up in a grave.

“The funeral service is changing rapidly,” he said, adding that he does not believe that change is for the better. “For 200 years people died and were mourned sometimes for a week. It was a family event. Today that has changed. People are busy and choosing less complicated funerals. They no longer mourn as much as they celebrate that person’s life.

“More people are choosing cremation because they are concerned about the carbon footprint they leave behind and the harm that traditional embalming fluids may cause in the ecosystem. On the East Coast more than 40-percent of deaths end in cremation and it is higher in California ...The days of the traditional funeral with solemn organ music in dimly lit chapels and the deceased laid out among flowers for three or four days of mourning are quickly fading into history. And maybe that is a good thing,” he said.

Swan grew up on a dairy farm in Jasper with three siblings, Ed, Gary and Mary Jane. He graduated from Jasper Central School in 1967. He became interested in the funeral business during years of watching the comings and goings of funerals in the Five Corners Cemetery near his childhood home. After high school and college he went into broadcast journalism. At age 31 he returned to college and obtained his NYS Directors License. He also spent time in corrections with the local sheriff’s department. With his wife Sandra he owned and operated a funeral home in Andover for 20 years. Swan and his wife now live in Newark.

“Undertakings of an Undertaker” is available on Amazon.com or from the author at undertakings@inbox.com

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